User blog:SArchangel/Mirror
Mirror is the current given title of a concept of science fiction and supernatural fantasy concieved by Daniel Z. Chen (User:SArchangel) and is currently a young idea under development. It is a piece that is supposed to be partly an eye-opener on human nature as discussed in Judeo-Christian theology. The title of the concept is subject to change. General Setting and Backstory Mirror is set in our galaxy in the future (more specifically, two near-identical galaxies linked by a wormhole with a judgment agenda, each populated by an identical human society in slightly different timezones and sees the opposite group of humans as barbaric demon aliens). In the future, humanity underwent a second technological revolution in response to the growing scarcity of Earth's own resources. The revolution began with a mission to create a mining colony for helium-3-rich lunar soil on Earth's moon, and was ultimately successful. Simultaneously occurring is a global rennaissance of scientific and philosophical thinking that leads humanity toward a path of secular humanism, with the rapid decline of religious belief after every generation. The energy produced using helium-3 allowed humanity to reach other parts of the Solar System, resulting in a second Space Age and allowed the domination of the entire Solar System. The Solar System's abundance of resources led to a Golden Age for humanity. During the Golden Age, scientific research of phenomenon occurring in the outer parts of the heliosphere led to the discovery of a wormhole at the edge of the Solar System. Decades later after the discovery of this wormhole, the International Space Administration (ISA) launched the Emissary I, an intelligence probe designed to observe what was theoretically beyond the wormhole. To much surprise, the Emissary I successfully passed through the wormhole to an alternate universe on the other side, and was dominated by what was observed by an humanoid yet very different alien race (described as 'demonic', devilish, or Satanic) with almost the same technology as humanity that had dominated their galaxy in the same manner in which humanity had dominated the Solar System. The ISA called the galaxy the Idemian galaxy, based on the Latin word for identical, idem. Decades later, the ISA launched a manned mission to the Idemian galaxy, which was successful. However after miscommunication with the alien race, the alien's turned hostile and the human explorers committed self-termination. The aliens sent their own "Emissary I" to the human universe, but the International Alliance ordered the destruction of the alien probe. The International Alliance (a more united and congregated future version of the United Nations) deemed the aliens a hostile race, and took control over the ISA with the intention to launch a military invasion of the Idemian galaxy. And so the invasion began, prompting a devastating war between both sides. : The revelation in this science fiction tale is that the wormhole actually distorts the perspective of all things that pass through it and the observing group of the view being observed. From a third party perspective, there are no aliens; both alternate universes are dominated by humans, and both universes are the same universe only in different but not-distant time periods (for instance, both had experienced the second Space Age and the Golden Age). The galaxy of the group that took first action (sent the Emissary first) is the Future galaxy, as in ahead in time of the other galaxy, which is the Past galaxy. The wormhole distorted the view of each group of humans, causing the Past humans to see the Future humans as demonic aliens, and vice versa. The demonic look is the physical representation of evil. Each group of humans sees the other as evil aliens, and carries a biased and incorrect view believing that humanity is better (ethically) than the aliens. The wormhole can be figuratively described as a mirror in which inner nature is physically revealed. The appearance differences, inability to communicate (they sound differently and their writing is barbaric gibberish to the one another's perspective), and hostile acts of war are all factors preventing any peaceful resolution between both parties in the war, though from a third party, the humans are actually fighting themselves; an enemy of an equal nature, a brawl between equally savage savages. The aliens are named Diablos (note that this is a reference to both parties; when humans are spoken of without distinction between whether they are from the Past or Future galaxy, the message refers to the humans as a whole and the "Diablos" referring to the illusion of the aliens, which are in fact just humans from the opposite universe) and Future humanity pushes the Past humans/Diablos all the way back to their homeworld, a planet identical to Earth referred to by the Future humans as Gaia, after the Greek Earth goddess. The Past humans/Diablos launch a last stand campaign and the Future humans (also Diablos in the perspective of the Past humans) launch a final full-scale invasion; both sides are just about equal in strength. The result is the greatest battle in both histories to occur: an event known as the Armageddon which was a pyrrhic victory for the Past human defenders. However, after the battle, the Past humans in the form of the governing body, their own "International Alliance", calls for an organized operation known as Operation Safehaven. Operation Safehaven involves the abandonment of previously controlled land by international governemtns and the construction of the Sanctuaries: selected mass strips of land that are isolated into walled supercommunities where society can continue under close regulation and protection under the International Alliance governments that control them. Meanwhile, the offensive Future humans that are seen as the Diablos by the Past humans (the ones that have isolated themselves into the Sanctuaries), have expended an enormous amount of energy to fight the war, and their military strength is incapable of a second planetary invasion of the planet they call Gaia (Past Earth). They are also heavily defunded as the majority of civilian (Future) humanity back in the Future galaxy is unhappy with the war. The Future human military force in the Past galaxy still wants to continue plans to conquer Gaia (Past Earth), which they believe can be colonized due its identical nature with (Future) Earth. Sanctuary Era (Past Humanity) : ''------The following is to be written in the perspective of Past Earth. The Future humans are referred to as the Diablos and the Past humans are simply referred to as humans, and Past Earth/Gaia is simply "Earth". The (Past) humans dwell in Sanctuaries on "Earth"------'' During the Sanctuary-era, the Sanctuary communities are each populated by human communities numbering in the couple dozen millions and are defended by walls and a technologically advanced defense system. The Sanctuaries are scattered across the globe and at first were governed by the government members of the International Alliance. The governments keep an agenda of close concentration over human citizens with a benevolent authoritarian control. Government control the distribution of necessities and purchase rights among individuals and groups within the population, in which distribution is determined by a highly detailed meritocratic system. However over time, currency becomes a more important resource above raw material. As a side effect of this change, government officials controlling the distribution become corrupt because they can be paid off more easily by the rich, who have built up their lineage in wealth during the early stages of the Sanctuary-era. The significance of currency becomes a curse for those born into the lower class, until after several centuries of life in Sanctuaries, social and financial hierarchy becomes very much obvious. In the early centuries, businesses are introduced, but the government keeps them local and small. However as people become more reliant on business over the government, the government allows the growth of businesses. Over time, a competitive corporate race develops and megacorporate monopolies take over. The megacorporations dominate and state-controlled resource distribution goes extinct. These megacorporations expand the class gap and turmoil ensues as lower class protest for higher standards of living. In the 889 pA (the date system is by years from pA, meaning “post-Armageddon” after the last major campaign in the Diablo-Human War), the Human Sovereignty Party (HSP), a political party of the International Alliance, was founded. The conservative HSP advocated for more authoritarian government control over the Sanctuary much like during the early Sanctuary-era; they believed this was the best way to establish order and efficiently begin fixing problems that arose from having a significantly larger refugee population than ever before. As megacorporations were on the rise, those who feared that the corporations would monopolize and begin to raise living costs for their own selfish benefits (the lower class consumers) called for more government intervention in the economy. During this time the HSP gained a lot of power in the government, and they established social programs that distributed necessities to the lower class consumer population. With the help from the proletariat and other lower class groups that dominated the total populations of each Sanctuary, the HSP gained authoritarian government control over Sanctuaries worldwide. However a major problem they faced was a rise of unemployment and productivity negatively correlated to the increase of welfare and distribution. There was also a corruption problem in the government in which officials were bribed by megacorporations. The Purifications Radicals within the ever-growing HSP believed the solution was to abolish habeas corpus and purge all “inferior” peoples; people who accused of refusing to be most productive in their work. The HSP radicals used propaganda to persuade many civilians to root out these “inferiors” for the government to concentrate them and then seperate them from Sanctuary society. Primary supporters of the radicals were the cult science group known as the Human Purity Associations (HPA), a group cultivated from rising philosophies derived from contemporary genetics (humanity mastered genetic engineering during the Golden Age); HPA cult leaders were genetic engineers themselves. Much like the basis of the eugenic philosophy, the HPA believed that people with negative physical conditions that resulted from mutations passed on through the generations needed to be elminated from the “universal gene pool” (the HPA refers to the world population as the “universal gene pool”); in other words, a genetic cleansing needed to occur. As master genetic engineers, HPA-affiliated geneticists could be paid large sums by the rich upper-class to edit the genomes of their infants so that harmful mutations could be erased from these “genetically altered” and “pure” offspring. Poor people could not afford these genetic alterations, and that would eventually lead to their downfall. In the 923 pA, a government operation called the First Purification occurred. Nicknamed the Purge by those targeted, the First Purification was defined as a “state-controlled segregation of social denizens of low productivity and genetic inferiority for the good of the future of the human race.” Government authorities of the HSP-controlled government forced former welfare donees and people considered “genetically inferior” (basically carried genetic diseases, defects, and disorders in their genes; anything of such defined as harmful in the Purification Order, that could be passed on to offspring) into isolated communities (think of it like the Nazi treatment of Jews). Victims of the Purge were referred to by other parties as "Defects". The poor and unstable were not the only ones purged; political insurrectionists, criminals, and all sorts of people considered dangerous opposition to the government were purged. The Purge created mass hysteria and commotion worldwide. While in most Sanctuaries the Purges were successful, many Sanctuaries, especially the poorest, descended to chaos and rebellion. During these Purges, an amazing discovery was made. Among Defects were individuals that possessed supernatural abilities. How these abilities were attained by these individuals were unknown, but the many of these few individuals were taken into custody and experimented on by authorities, although many were believed to continue to exist without being taken in by the government. In 952 pA, the Purges ended when the Progressive Reform Party (PRP) came into power to rival the HSP. PRP members called Reformists criticized HSP, or Conformists as they eventually were called, for their lack of focus on the recolonization of Earth which was the primary objective. The PRP rose with the backings of the corporations which had suffered due to many laborers being purged. Before being ousted from power, the HSP banished Defects from the Sanctuaries, and they were forced to live in uncolonized territory known as the Outlands. Rise of Nomads After the banishment of "Defects", the Defects faced the forces of nature and of course, natural selection. By adapting to a nomadic lifestyle, banished individuals could survive. Many formed groups, much like primitive tribes, in order to provide a better chance of survival. Over the centuries, these individuals, called Nomads, developed a distinctive culture of much superstition and mysticism. From the Nomads arose the First Disciple, a legendary figure who was said to have survived alone in the Outlands with the help of an old book of stories and morals (this book will eventually be revealed to be the Bible judging from its content). The First Disciple was said to possess supernatural powers similar to the powers of those the authorities had identified and then taken away. Whether or not the individual did exist, many Nomads had begun following the morals of the book and told the stories from the book like they were common tales. Fall of Gallia Gallia is a Sanctuary located in post-Armageddon France, encompassing the city of Paris. It is one of the major Sanctuaries. In 1216 pA, Gallia was attacked by the Diablos; it was the first successful invasion by the Diablos on a fully constructed Sanctuary. It was discovered that the Diablos had somehow infiltrated the city long before the invasion had taken place. Approximately 45 million people were killed in the event. The Fall of Gallia was a shock to humanity whom were led to believe that the Sanctuaries were safe. The Uprising The Uprising was an international coup against various Sanctuary governments that took place during the 1220s pA. The concept of the Uprising was embedded in society since the Purges ended; the possibility of an insurrection ocurring was in fact well known of for two centuries by the Sanctuary government. The Uprising was an underground movement for a very long time that had expanded into Sanctuaries worldwide. The Uprising often called for the reintroduction of the old ways and traditions which had remained illegal yet very alive since the creation of Sanctuaries: democracy, cultural diversity, etc. any various other traditions discouraged by the Sanctuary agenda. One of the primary concerns of Uprising leaders was unity, which was something insurrectionist groups lacked. The expansion of unity among insurrectionist groups began within the Military and the growing self-realization among the community of "supernatural individuals." Lt. Commander Yohan Schultz, a soldier diagnosed with blindness, was able TBC Category:Blog posts